It pays to be Diddy‘s son, Justin. For his 17th birthday, Justin received a souped-up limousine version of a Mercedes Maybach valued at $390,000.
This may sound outrageous in and of itself but wait ’till you hear this: This car is the 17 year-old’s second such vehicle as Justin received a lesser version of a Maybach (valued at only $300,000) last year from his famous and ridiculously-rich father.
Diddy felt like he had some explainin’ to do. So he told The Independent: “Justin has turned himself around and is now an honors student, which he wasn’t before, so I wanted to treat him. It’s a collector’s car so maybe he will use it for special occasions like on a first date, but like all my kids, he prefers the simpler things than the expensive things. Simple tastes.”
Simple tastes? Are you for real, Diddy? I have a simple taste. And by “simple taste” I mean I drive a 10-year old Nissan. But alas, I digress. We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you, Diddy.
Justin’s first gifted-car was featured on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 and Diddy got a lot of flack for his extravagant gift.
Diddy blamed the criticism on racism and said in response to an interview with journalist Martin Bashir, who questioned the gift: “The whole thing about giving a Maybach to my son, that’s really like a racist question. You don’t ask white people what they buy their kids. And they buy ’em Porsches and convertible Bentleys, and it ain’t no question. It’s really a racist question and put things back in perspective with money and the way that people still look at you. And I’m not saying that consciously he’s a racist. But he probably don’t even realize that he would not ask Steve Jobs that. He would be like Steve Jobs has that money and that’s the gift his kid is supposed to get.”
Diddy, I don’t think Bashir’s question had anything to do with racism. I would think he’d question anyone who would dote so much money on a teenager. I know I would. But it’s your money and it’s your kid. So, live and be happy cause as they say, father knows best! Just don’t be surprised if your kids don’t appreciate the real simple things of life as they grow older…
What would the rest of you do? Would you lavish such an expensive gift on your teenager if you had the means?
